Year of the Tiger

Ahhh. Sorry for the extended pause -- we missed a full night of sleep last week en route back from California (we basically arrived home a full 10 hours after we were scheduled to -- again, don't ask) and the whole family are still feeling the effects. But we're slowly getting back on track. Mind you, with a certain little girl expecting a birthday next week, things are chaotic here anyway. I thought January was supposed to be easier than December?

Anyway, I was invited to a baby shower this past weekend (which I bailed on, due to the aforementioned chaos/sleep deprivation) and I didn't want to pick up a last minute layette set that the baby/parents didn't need anyway. I love to make my baby shower gifts, but with this little guy being born on Christmas Day, I couldn't get to anything too substantial (poor little dude, this will probably turn out to be the story of his gift-receiving life). Then I remembered all these little Aranzi finger puppets I'd made ages ago. I bought a little shadow box, stuck this guy in with a couple of those double-sided sticky foam squares that scrapbookers use and boom -- instant handmade present.

I had this idea floating in my head for some time, but was double inspired by an article in the new Martha Stewart Living that focuses on creative family memories in shadow boxes. Now I want to shadow box everything -- if it weren't for the fact that shadow boxes are really freakin' expensive. Does anyone have a line on cheap shadow boxes? I am certainly not a carpenter, so I'm not about to make them myself.

On a totally unrelated note, I urge anyone who visits Disneyland to pick up a bag of their saltwater taffy. I was standing in line at the coffeeshop on Main Street their to inquire if they sold Rolaids (they do -- they're hidden and you have to ask for them, but that's the place to go if you're having that kind of problem in the Magic Kingdom) and suddenly remembered getting saltwater taffy at Disneyland when I was a kid, so I grabbed a bag. I wish I had bought more. I finally cracked it open today and can not stop eating it. Usually the flavours in saltwater taffy are fairly muted (i.e. every colour tastes exactly the same), but this stuff is a flavour explosion. In a cruel and unusual move, I have not alerted my children to the existence of this lone bag of taffy. I'm a horrible mother.